FORMER ILLINOIS SENATOR PAUL SIMON TO ADDRESS SOUTHEAST COMMENCEMENT

Former U.S. senator Paul Simon will deliver the commencement address at Southeast Missouri State University on May 15.

Degrees will be conferred on 900 undergraduates and 91 graduate students during the spring commencement ceremony, scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

Leading the class of undergraduates are six students with perfect 4.0 grade point averages. They are Robin Wiegand of Jackson; Joan Rexroat of Poplar Bluff; David Jenkins of Jackson, Tenn.; Shannon Landreth of Mount Vernon, Ill.; Lesley Wells of Charleston, Ill.; and Kari Williams of Waltonville, Ill.

The graduating class includes 14 honors scholars and four students earning academic distinction in the departments of their majors.

The 14 honors scholars are Landreth; Williams; Jamie Johnston of Cape Girardeau; Melanie McCormack of Jackson; Jason Lane of Troy, Ill.; Carol Adams of Campbell; Matthew McKnight of Harrisonville; Peggy Stocker of Richton Park, Ill.; Bridget Greenwood of Bowling Green; Rebecca Burns of Piedmont; Daniel Cofer of Havre, Mont.; Beth Hensley of St. Louis; Amy Lenard of West Monroe, La.; and John McDermott of Mount Vernon, Ill.

Students graduating with academic distinction in their academic major are Jenkins, foreign language; Landreth, political science; Lane, political science; and Darrin Tipton of Dexter, criminal justice.

During their years at Southeast, honors scholars must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.25 and complete 24 hours of honors course work, six of which must be at the senior level. They also must complete a senior research project.

To graduate with academic distinction, students must complete a special project after having completed at least 75 credit hours of course work with a minimum 3.25 grade point average in their major department and at least a 3.0 grade point average overall.

Thirty-six members of Phi Kappa Phi will be honored. Phi Kappa Phi is an international honor society for academic distinction.

Forty-four students will graduate summa cum laude, 53 will graduate magna cum laude and 123 will graduate cum laude. Five will graduate with honors in associate degrees.

Dr. Gary Miller, professor of music and coordinator of graduate studies in the music department, will speak at the honors convocation.

The convocation is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Academic Auditorium. At the convocation, 225 undergraduates and 43 graduate students will be honored.

Simon, who will present the commencement address, is a professor at Southern Illinois University.

He joined SIU's faculty in 1997, just weeks after retiring from the U.S. Senate.

Simon makes his home in Makanda, Ill., and teaches at SIU-Carbondale and from time to time at the school's Edwardsville campus.

Simon founded and directs the Public Policy Institute at the Carbondale campus.

Simon was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974. He served as a congressman for 10 years.

He won election to the Senate in 1984. In 1987-1988, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president.

He won re-election to the Senate in 1990, defeating his Republican opponent by nearly 1 million votes.

As a senator, Simon held more than 600 town meetings throughout Illinois, more than any U.S. senator in the state's history.

Simon holds 49 honorary degrees and has written 18 books.